''Chersobius solus'', commonly known as the Nama dwarf tortoise, the Nama padloper, and Berger's cape tortoise, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Testudinidae Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like ot ...

.Dwarf Tortoise Conservation
website, retrieved 1 July 2013. www.reptile-database.org. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

Conservation status

''C. solus'' is threatened by traffic on roads,

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

, and

poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...

for the pet trade. As the trade in collected ''Chersobius '' species is strictly illegal and any captive specimens are systematically registered in noncommercial studbooks in South Africa and Namibia, any commercial sale of ''Chersobius'' tortoises is almost without exception strictly illegal. Another threat comes from

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

, such as domestic dog, pigs and habitat destruction.

In captivity

''C. solus'' does not generally survive well in captivity unless some effort is made to supply specimens with their natural food, that is, endemic plants from the Cape/Karoo regions.Corton, Misty. , World Chelonian Trust (retrieved August 20, 2013).

References

solus Reptiles described in 2007 Endemic fauna of Namibia Reptiles of Namibia Taxa named by William Roy Branch Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{turtle-stub